Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - Apr 29 2024 14:00 (EDT)
AP News, I'm Ed Donohue, Columbia University has set a deadline for pro-Palestinian demonstrators. They can sign a letter from the school to abide by university policies, or they will be suspended pending further investigation. Demonstrations continue elsewhere. Jacob Gin is at the University of North Carolina. We're going to remain here until the university meets our demands. We have set up for the long haul. We have sleeping quarters. We have a care tent with food, meals. Anything people might need. We have a lot of programming, including teachings and things like that. The University of Southern California has canceled its main graduation ceremony this spring. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the Middle East, hoping to work out a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. An analyst with the Middle East Institute, Brian Katulis, says there's a lot on Secretary of State Antony Blinken's plate, like deals on military nuclear energy and AI initiatives with Saudi Arabia, but first and foremost, achieve a temporary ceasefire and hostage release. Without that, nothing else can go forward. Reconstruction aid into Gaza, a two-state solution. Katulis says there have been good ceasefire proposals on the table, and it's Hamas that's been rejecting them, something he wants campus protesters to note. That Hamas started this war, and Hamas actually has the power to get to a ceasefire, and they're choosing not to do so. Katulis says he thinks Israel, eventually, will have to accept a two-state solution. I'm Jackie Quinn. A federal appeals court ruled West Virginia and North Carolina's transgender care coverage policies discriminate. The case is likely headed to the Supreme Court. The states refuse to cover certain health care for transgender people with government sponsored insurance. His lawyers say police in France are no longer holding actor Gerard Depardu following a day of reported questioning over accusations by two women he sexually assaulted them on movie sets. This is AP News. Taylor Swift's album makes a huge debut. The AP's Margie Zara-Letta has the story. The torture poet's departments moved 2.61 million units in its first week of release according to industry data company Luminate. What's significant is how many people bought the album. This sold 1.91 million copies from download, CD, vinyl, and cassette. It had the biggest streaming week ever for an album with more than 891 million album streams. It gives Taylor Swift her 14th number one album that ties with Jay-Z for second most number one albums ever, and behind only the Beatles with 19. Swift says on social media she's completely floored. I'm Archie Zara-Letta. The San Diego Zoo says a pair of giant pandas will be arriving there soon from China. An exact date for the handoff hasn't been set. One of the pandas, five-year-old Yun Quan, has a connection to Southern California. His mom was born at the San Diego Zoo. I'm Ed Donahue, AP News.